HUD Secretary Andrew Cuomo said: "The assistance President Clinton has brought to Hartford will help revitalize the city by strengthening its economy and making it a safer place for law-abiding families. This investment will pay dividends far into the future and help achieve the President's goal of expanding opportunities for communities and families across our nation."

The President was in Hartford as part of a four-city tour highlighting New Markets - areas of America that have not fully shared in the nation's prosperity but offer strong investment potential. The President visited Newark, NJ earlier today and will visit Hermitage, AR and Chicago as part of the trip on Friday. The trip is designed to focus public attention and spark increased business investment to jump-start the economies of communities left behind.

CITYSCAPE

Once completed, Cityscape and the Learning Corridor will house retail stores, a Montessori School, the Greater Hartford Academy for the Arts, the Inter-District Math, Science and Technology Center, a City of Hartford middle school, a Boys and Girls Club, and 110 new or renovated housing units for low-and moderate-income families. In addition, there will be space for a community theater and a gym/community center. In all, these facilities will create about 400 construction jobs and about 300 permanent jobs. The area covers about 14 square blocks.

The Southside Institutions Neighborhood Alliance - which is made up of Trinity College, Connecticut Public Television and Radio, Connecticut Children's Medical Center, Hartford Hospital and the Institute of the Living - conceived of the Learning Corridor project. It has been hailed as a national model for urban revitalization.

OTHER ASSISTANCE

HUD also committed to funding the Neighborhood Jobs Initiative in Hartford and four other cities with a total of $1.5 million to be divided among the cities over two years. The initiative seeks to raise employment rates in high-poverty urban neighborhoods by creating job opportunities for every working-age adult in targeted areas. Community organizations work with welfare departments, employers, tenants, and landlords to design and implement efforts to hire and retain people in jobs. Many participants in the program are residents of HUD-assisted housing.

"This initiative is on the leading edge of employment efforts in America," Cuomo said. "It will help set the pace, ensuring that the benefits of our strong economy get to the neighborhoods where joblessness remains unacceptably high - the very places that too often get left behind as the tide rises."

In Hartford, the neighborhood advocacy organization Hartford Areas Rally Together (HART) will work in partnership with Manpower Demonstration Research Corporation, the nation's leading welfare-to-work policy organization, along with others to stamp-out high levels of joblessness by connecting families to economic opportunities. HUD joins the Rockefeller Foundation, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and Chase Manhattan Bank as a lead funder of the initiative.

The HUD grant will fund technical assistance on best practices in employment services, regionwide job linkages for residents, and support services, such as transportation and child care, that are vital to getting and keeping a job.

Also in Hartford, the Community Empowerment Fund (CEF) Trust, an innovative pilot program, is being launched. The Trust will enhance the Section 108 Loan Guarantee Program and Economic Development Initiative Grant Program by allowing the loans to be pooled and traded on Wall Street. This will make it safer and easier for local governments to make loans to businesses locating or expanding in low-income neighborhoods.

The CEF Trust will be operated by Harris Trust Company of New York as an independent program manager working under contract to HUD. It will standardize the underwriting of economic development loans and reduce the risk and administrative burden of Section 108 to local communities, making a proven tool even more effective and creating more jobs where they are needed most.

Content Archived: January 20, 2009